Fearing the public is confused and alienated by its outdated name, The Law Society of Upper Canada is set to vote on changing its name to the Law Society of Ontario.

The issue will be brought to a vote of the LSUC’s executive board, known as benchers, at a meeting next week. But the outcome is not guaranteed. For one thing, this will be the third time since 1993 that the proposal has come up for a vote, and both previous times failed.

There is also broad support for the historical name, in which many Ontario lawyers take a deep pride. The proposed new name “doesn’t have the cachet, it doesn’t have the dignity, and most importantly, it doesn’t have the historical significance of the Law Society of Upper Canada,” said Earl Cherniak, a senior lawyer and former bencher who has been a member of the LSUC for half a century, but will not have a vote next week.

Changing your name does not turn your back on your history

The Law Society of Upper Canada was established by an act of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada in 1797, making it the oldest self-governing professional body in North America.

“It’s not a small thing,” Cherniak said. “Secondly, it’s a very distinctive name and it’s not confusing with anything else.”

The society, which regulates the legal profession in Ontario, including 50,000 lawyers and 8,000 paralegals, was first based in Wilson’s Hotel in what is now Niagara on the Lake. Today it is based in Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto.

Lawyer Earl Cherniak at his office in Toronto.John Lehmann/National Post

The colony of Upper Canada was created in 1791, and kept that name until 1841, when it became the Canada West portion of the United Province of Canada. The modern province of Ontario, which is geographically larger because it also includes parts of the Hudson Bay watershed, was created with Confederation in 1867. And though Upper Canada ceased to exist in 1841, its memory lingers today in the names of a Newmarket mall, a Toronto boys’ private school, a brewery, a golf course and other such businesses.

Over the years, discomfort with the Law Society’s name grew, such that in 1993 a name change first went to a vote, but failed 17-12. In 2012, another proposal was defeated which would, after five years, have changed the name to the Ontario Law Society. The current proposal would see the name change much more quickly.

“Changing your name doesn’t turn your back on your history. It doesn’t change your history,” said Paul Schabas, a senior lawyer who as LSUC treasurer is the society’s highest elected official. “We know members are divided on this because they like the name and they like the history, but we’re looking at the evidence and we’re responding to that.”

“We recognize as a board that we need to do a better job of connecting with the public. It’s one of our strategic priorities, to raise our profile and let the public know who we are and the services we provide,” Schabas said. “What our research shows us is our name is a barrier to connecting with the public because the term Upper Canada is an anachronistic term and we’re told it doesn’t reflect the geographical area. Many people don’t know what Upper Canada is, or was,” he said. “We want to be a modern regulator that can reach out and connect with people, and our consultants are saying we should change our name to reflect the geographic and political area that we serve.”

The vote of around 60 benchers and others with voting rights will take place next Thursday at the LSUC’s fall convocation.